


Knotted Up

by addie71



Series: Love Knots Triology [2]
Category: The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-10-10
Updated: 2010-10-10
Packaged: 2018-03-14 11:08:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3408326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/addie71/pseuds/addie71
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Years after Frodo leaves for Tol Eressëa, Sam still longs for him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Knotted Up

**Author's Note:**

> I would like to thank dear mews1945 for the beta. *hugs*

Sam walked through the quiet halls of Bag End, allowing the ever-present loneliness and grief to overtake him. Every room in the smial held some reminder of Frodo. Rosie had done what she could to make Bag End into a home for them, though there were some things he had not allowed her to store or replace. But even in the rooms Frodo had never used which were now bedrooms for his children, Sam felt his presence. It was as if the essence of its former master had been absorbed into the very walls of the smial.

He stopped to wipe the gathering tears from his eyes and then continued down the hall. It was rare he had the smial to himself, what with thirteen very active young ones about, and he wanted to take advantage of it. He stopped again at the door of the smallest store room and pulled a ring of keys from his pocket. All the children knew, even the youngest, that this room was off limits to all but their parents, yet he remembered his own youth and smiled softly at the precaution as he put a key into the lock and turned it.

_That’s better_ , he thought, _Mr. Frodo wouldn’t be happy if he knew I was still grieving for him_. He had reverted back to the old way of address for his master and lover when the bairns were old enough to pay attention. He wanted them to grow up with proper respect for the hobbit who had given everything he had to help ensure that the Shire was a safe and beautiful place for them and for all hobbits. 

The smile faded and his eyes misted again as he knelt before a worn, leather trunk. It had been Frodo’s when he was a lad and had come with him from Buckland. It still had some of Frodo’s treasures in it; things that had belonged to his parents, special gifts and mathoms from Bilbo and other friends and relations over the years. There was nothing in it from Sam anymore, though there were now a few of Sam’s own things there.

He selected another key from his ring and smiled again. _Better safe than sorry, especially with Merry and Pippin turning out to be so much like their namesakes. Ah, my love, I wish you could see them_. Sam wiped his eyes again and unlocked the trunk.

He pushed up the lid and reached for an item lying on top, which he had come seeking there. He gently lifted out the old book, bound with worn ribbons of moss green love knots instead of glue. 

His hands began to shake as he opened the cover. Running trembling fingers over the inscription, he began to weep in earnest. Closing the book, lest he get any tears on the precious page, he hugged it to his breast and rocked back and forth until all his tears were spent.

“Ah, Frodo, I haven’t done aught like this in a long time; but, oh my dear, I still miss you so! I stayed behind like you wanted, and it was right to do so, I see that now. There was so much that still had to be done. And I can’t deny the joy that Rose and the children have given me, for that they have, but none of it makes me miss you any the less.

“You told me that one day I might follow after you, and you can be sure that I will, my love. Little Elanor, ah Frodo you should see her, beautiful as ever a hobbit lass was! Well, she is to be married next month, to Fastred of Greenholm, and in spite of missing you, the time has gone by so fast. And I know it won’t be slowing down neither, and before you know it, even little Tom will be married and gone and there won’t be but one thing left for me to see through after that. 

“Then you better be there, my Frodo, for your Sam will be coming to take back his Treasure. I don’t know what to expect, how you will have changed, but no matter if you’re as old and bent as Mr. Bilbo was when he went with you, nor grown as glorious as an elf lord, which you deserve, I’ll know you. And no matter how much time we have left to us, we will be together like we belong and nothing will tear us apart again.” Sam kissed the soft cover of the book and gently placed it back in the trunk.

“There now, Frodo love, I didn’t mean to carry on so, but I guess I’m all the better for it now. I don’t get this chance very often and I had to come spend it with you, whether or no. I’ve got to get back out to the garden now, before they all come home or they will think there’s summat amiss, and I wouldn’t worry _them_ for aught, either.

“I love you, my Frodo. Wait for me.”


End file.
